Dex has been behaving himself a lot more, and getting lots of praise and treats.

One of the things we're working on right now is having visitors over. We have a very patient neighbour, Wendy who comes over for weekly movie nights, partially for company and partially for training Dex about behaving and not being annoyance.
The first time we did it he was awful, he woofed and whined the whole time and jumped on Wendy. Last night was about the third time, and he was a whole lot better. We have a rope choke collar that we slip on Dex when she's over to prevent him from jumping on her with the command "Down" and he seems to be getting the hang of it. He had to be put in time out and he whined a little but was a whole lot better than the first time we did it.

I'm so glad that she's so patient with him because I seriously feel really embarrased when we have people over at times.

Great thread. What age do they officially become teenagers? Loki turns sixteen weeks tomorrow. Does he qualify for the title yet? Foundation Canine Good Citizens third lesson this morning. First lesson ......he rushed over to the only other dog there .....leapt all over him, & then to my absolute horror, began to hump him. The poor six year old spaniel didn't know what had hit him & his mum was even more horrified than me. Second lesson, last weekend ..... Surprisingly spaniel & mum were absent. No-one to hump. Thank goodness. But puppy class arrived early, & we left late. Big mistake! Loki leapt, bounded & generally cavorted all around the room, bouncing off small breed puppies to the horror of their mums & dads, who looked on very disapprovingly. Embarrassed, I rounded him up, bundled his squirming body into the car, harness on & off home. Today ....still no spaniel .....but a gorgeous pair of Akitas ...brother & sister ...four months old ....perfect manners ......obedient .....eager to please their young mum & dad. Loki .......four months old (almost) .....somewhat dubious manners ......not so obedient (disobedient springs to mind, but I don't want to say that out loud ) .....not bothered in the least that I was running round in circles after him, frantically trying to get his attention to at least get some semblance of training done ......not eager to please his mum or dad .....intent only upon having fun & wreaking havoc. One small blessing ...no humping. I am learning to be grateful for small mercies. 'He does come when I call his name at home' why doesn't the trainer believe me? 'He is good at sitting/downing/staying ( at home ) . I can see she still doesn't believe me. We try walking calmly on the lead, handing out treats to keep Loki at our sides, with the trainer looking indulgently on. He does it very well ....until the treats run out. Then the dancing & the prancing begin, with the Akitas, distracted from their perfect walking on lead, joining in. Disgraced again. Dashing off before the puppy class arrives. Lesson four next weekend.

Dwylis,
Ha! Your post made me laugh. You definitely have a young Golden on your hands. He doesn't sound so much like a teen as a puppy though. You know they've entered the teen phase when things they have done perfectly for months go out of their heads, and you start all over with training the basics. Feel free to join in here, we have a lot of fun discussing (and sometimes dissing!) our dogs.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and your teen ageers were behaving themselves. We enjoyed some time off work and getting to spend more time with the dogs.

Jesse our 15 year old is having some issues with super high lipase levels, but is showing no signs of being sick. She is going in on Thursday for an ultrasound of her abdomen so see if anything shows up. She had an “emergency” X-ray on Saturday because our vet was so concerned with her last blood test going from 1,000 to 4,000 in two weeks, but nothing showed up and he was surprised she seemed so healthy. Not sure where we go from that point, but I will probably wait to see if she starts to feel sick. If not, then I think we are done with tests.

Tayla was a good girl over Thanksgiving. She had to spend some crate time while my parents were over, but she got lots of free time the rest of my 5 days off. We have now opened up the bathroom and bedroom for her exploration. She has been bringing us a few items like shoes, and pants that are left out, but gives them back when told to “out”. I figure if she is shut out of those rooms she will never learn what she can and can’t touch. It will be an ongoing process. She has gotten much better with a lot of things. She did get over excited a couple times and started the hand biting, but a stern NO stopped her quickly. She is also getting a little better at amusing herself and does really well when we sit down to eat. She either lies by my husband’s chair or goes to play with a toy. That surprises us in a good way.

this is a great thread! Tyler is out first puppy, we adopted him at 6 months. 90% of the time he is a lovely, sleepy, cuddly teddy bear. The other 10% a terror, always when he can make me look the most foolish!

He flattens himself to the floor when we are on walks if he sees someone, they think 'oh look at that puppy behaving so well and make there way over to fuss him'

Outwest, saw in another post that Tess hasn't been doing well as of late... I hope the meds work out for her and she continues to live a happy life!

Guybrush's family, sorry to hear about your partner's hand, what a bummer. I hope he recovers well and that you will recover well and quickly once your surgery happens. And I really hope Guybrush calms down a bit for your sanity

Not too much has been going on in mine and Pluto's life, I think we are getting closer to adopting a brother or sister for him, however. He's alone for 10 hours a day because I commute and I really hate that. I'm also looking to find a job closer to home so I can visit him on my lunch breaks.

He has become a bit territorial/protective lately. He does not like being "backed" into a corner, doesn't like strangers coming into the house, doesn't like strangers that are just sitting or standing outside of our community on our walks, etc. He will growl and/or bark at them. Usually he is good enough to listen when I say enough, but sometimes he is past that point. We are trying to work on it and I've seen some mild improvements but I haven't seen enough to be satisfied just yet. I honestly don't even know why this started, but it did start a few months ago, not too long after his first birthday. Hoping it's just a phase?

Anyway, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend and I'll try to stay updated more often!

Koda has become more vocal with people getting close or in our yard. Especially at night. She is excited when strangers come in but when they first pull up or walk up the driveway she is a bit confused what they are doing on her property.

Might be a phase but she doesn't seem to be easing up. I don't let it bother me as long as she is friendly when they walk in...

Yeah, I don't mind the warning barks but when he barks/growls sometimes he is just out of control. He is not always friendly once the visitor walks in and will continue to bark like crazy. I've gotten to the point where if I can predict someone is going to visit I tell him to go to bed (his crate) and lock him up for 10 minutes so that he can see that the visitor is not a threat. He barks for a bit but I don't let him out until he stops. When I finally let him out he of course begs the visitor for pets.

What is annoying is when he growls out on walks... I can never pinpoint similarities between the people he growls at however. Sometimes I expect him to growl, and he acts friendly. Sometimes I expect him to act friendly and he growls. What gives?! lol

Maria, I wonder if Pluto thinks he should be protecting you, rather than the other way around? I don't know how you'd train to reverse that, but there must be a way to do it. Just a thought.

Our house is busy right now but manageable. I need to start seriously with some training for Bella. She's a very sweet dog, but her manners need improving. I guess I'm a little distracted with the holidays, and worrying about Tess. Tucker has been pretty easy lately, but I should be doing more training with him, too. Arghhhh.

I have also had 3 other goldens, although they were all females. My male, Floyd is 7 months old and is so CRAZY!! He has become such a brat. He terrorizes my other almost 8 yr. old golden. We had him neutered 2 weeks and am hoping this will calm him down. He was great in puppy class, but was terrible in basic dog obedience. Very treat obsessed and wouldn't listen to anything. Tell me that he will outgrow this??

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